A Single Red Rose
by whereJIJisalive
Summary: Jack has disappeared and left the team to fend for themselves, Ianto and Tosh cut it close, and when Jack gets back he's not alone... Jealousy stings for Ianto, but not for long.
1. Nothing's going to hurt teaboy!

**A/N: Another story! Yay. This one is my first multi-chapter, and I´m very proud to say all 4 chapters are complete, and will be uploaded as soon as possible. Once again, I hope I didn´t mess up the tense, I hope it is easy to follow. Enjoy! (And review. Pretty please...!)**

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Ianto closed the door behind him and let out a sigh. 'Too close,' he thought as he put the keys on the counter. He tiredly walked into the living room. There had been an incident at work, worse than usual. They had encountered an especially vicious hoix and been unprepared for it. It was one of the few times when Tosh's rift prediction program had gotten everything but time and location completely wrong. They had gone there, just Tosh and Ianto, expecting a new alien artifact. All they´d had on them to fight the hoix was weevil spray and guns. Neither had done much more than annoy the creature further. Especially since neither of them had been able to get a clear killing shot in.

"Ianto!" Toshiko had screamed as the creature had launched at her.

He had called for the others through the comms, his cries of despair alerting Owen – who was the only one back at the Hub – that something had gone terribly wrong. Gwen had been home celebrating Rhys' birthday at the time, and it was one of those times when Jack was nowhere to be seen. Secretly, they had all been wondering: 'Where was Jack this time? When was he coming back?'

Ianto took a deep breath back in his flat, as he involuntarily continued playing the scene back in his mind's eye.

"_Ianto!" Tosh screamed for help as the hoix launched at her. Ianto shouted through the comms to alert Owen, and possibly – hopefully – Jack. Jack... The name sent a jolt through his body and he raised his gun, trying to get a clear shot at the malevolent alien. With two bullets shot into its brain, the hoix turned away from Tosh who was laying on the ground – whether she was injured or not, Ianto could not tell – and promptly threw itself at Ianto. In a last performance of rage and something which resembled adrenalin, the creature bit into his shoulder. Crying out in pain, the last thing Ianto remembered was the voice of his immensely skilled doctor._

"_Nothing´s going to hurt tea boy! Not on my watch!"_

Now there he was, sitting alone on his couch, staring into thin air. When Owen had arrived at the scene, he had effectively injected the alien with sedative, and once it was sleeping, something to kill it. There was nothing they could have done to get it back where it was supposed to be, and hoixes were far too big to fit in any of their cells below the Hub.

Toshiko had suffered a broken wrist and some bruised ribs, and would be unfit for field work for some time. 'But she is going to be alright.' Ianto thought as he sighed. He really needed somebody to lean on. Well, not literally, that would hurt his shoulder too much. He was off the field for a few weeks, too. The doctor had bandaged the wound on his shoulder and given him some pain killers. Fortunately nothing more had been needed as the hoix' bite had not gotten through to the muscle or bone. It had been close, though. Apparently if the bite had been more than three millimeters to the left, or if it had been _slightly_ deeper, it would have made lasting damage.

"I could have died out there," he heard himself say. "And where was Jack?"


	2. On the roof of the Millennium Centre

**A/N: Thought I might as well upload the next chapter right away - so here it is. A little longer than the previous one. It might not be entirely correct what with Jack's complicated past and all, but bare with me. Enjoy and please review.**

"Here you are, Tosh," Ianto put a cup of coffee on Toshiko's desk and watched her working hard on something, slightly curious as to what it might be.

"Thanks," She replied absentmindedly. He was just about to leave her to check on some paperwork Jack had left when he disappeared – three weeks ago - when she put her good hand on his arm, stopping him.

"I think I found something," she said and resumed typing. Having only one hand to type with didn´t seem to hinder her at all. "There´s been a rift spike. On the roof of the Millennium Centre."

"The roof?" Ianto asked and looked with more concentration on her screen. "Do you think..." he needed not finish his sentence. Toshiko knew exactly what he was going to say.

"I do, actually. The data says it´s a person. Who else would it be?" They shared a look, worry and reassurance being passed between them silently. Simultaneously they moved away from the desk, grabbing things they would need and going to tell Owen and Gwen.

-TW-

"Eh, you´re not going anywhere," Owen said after receiving the knowledge of the rift spike on the roof.

"What do you mean?" Ianto looked puzzled, standing just on the inside of the open cog door.

"I mean, no field work. And that goes for you as well, Tosh," he turned around waiving a finger at Tosh, mimicking the way one would normally reprehend a child.

"But it´s only Jack," she said and walked up to Ianto. "Could you... help me?" she mumbled discretely to him referring to her coat. He complied without question as Owen continued.

"We don´t know that," he said. "It´s better we go," he gestured towards Gwen who was sitting by her station, seemingly oblivious to the exchange. Of course, they all knew she was working on one of her pet projects again, unable to tear away.

"She´s got other things on her mind," Ianto argued. "Look, Owen..."

"Ianto."

"We´re going," he said firmly. He was not going to let Jack disappear again. "Right now," he turned around and marched out the door. "You´re welcome to join us," they heard him say through the comms.

-TW-

The wind blew harshly against Jack's skin as he said goodbye to Sheela.

"Will you be alright?" he asked her sadly.

"Look, Jack," she began in her London accent, "I know you have responsibilities here..."

He stopped her with the raising of his arm. "It´s not..."

"Responsibilities you don´t necessarily want to leave," she persisted, and seemed to have made Jack's interruption redundant.

He reached for her hand, saying, "You know I care about you. I just can´t..." he glanced at the water tower, longing to see the people he knew were working beneath it. It had been months since he´d seen them. Since he´d seen Ianto. And even though it had only been three weeks for them, he knew they would be worried. Sheela was an incredibly strong woman, and she had so many others to care for. She also had family to care for her in return. The Torchwood team was Jack's family, and as little as he would like to admit it, he needed them. Sheela and Jack used to meet up on a regular basis a few decades ago, but he had lost contact with her many years back. It was only by chance that the rift had picked him up one day, and brought him to her, in the 1970s'. There she was 35 years old, and she hadn´t seen Jack for four years. He thought it had been a good opportunity to give her some closure to their on-again off-again relationship.

It was a sort of closure for him too, he thought. He really didn´t have any desire to be with anyone other than Ianto anymore. He could look, absolutely. And he would flirt. But for once in this lifetime, he wanted to be exclusive. And he knew he had the right person to be with.

"I know, Jack," Sheela smiled, continuing her futile attempts to get her wild black hair from blowing into her eyes. "We had a good time. I have many years ahead of me, I will find someone to share them with."

"Oh, I know you will," Jack said with his trademark smile. "Who could resist a stunning woman like you?" after a moment they both grew silent, tension building up between them, until Jack leaned forward and caressed her cheek before kissing her gently. "Bye, Sheela," he breathed and backed away. He checked his vortex manipulator and realized the rift activity they had been waiting for was near. Sheela held up a device, designed to harvest rift energy and in the manner of a surfboard, ride that energy back or forth in time until arriving in the desired year. "Here it comes," he said and pushed a few buttons. The last thing he saw of Sheela was her jade tinged eyes as she disappeared in a ray of light.

-TW-

"Jack," said a very familiar voice from behind him. _Oh no,_ he thought and turned around slowly. Ianto stood before him, looking as good as ever in one of his immaculate suits, sheltered from the chilly wind by a fairly long, black coat. Next to him stood Tosh, biting her lip and looking guilty.

"Hey, Ianto..." Jack greeted him, but made no move towards his lover. "Tosh," he smiled carefully. "What have you done to your arm?" he forgot about Ianto for a second as he noticed his technician was injured.

"Oh, it´s nothing..." she said dismissively and stroke her injured arm gently. "It was just a hoix."

"Just? Tosh, they are dangerous. You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"You should thank Ianto then," she said smiling carefully, "without him I would have."

Jack's penetrating gaze turned towards the fidgeting Welshman in front of him. "Is that true? How are you?"

"Physically or mentally?" Ianto said, sarcasm clear in his voice, as well as in the expressions on his face.

"Ianto..."

"He´s gonna' be alright," Tosh provided and shot a stern look in Ianto's direction. "It was pretty close, but we managed. We´ll go through the details later," she paused and watched the men stare at each other with varying expressions flitting across their faces. "But it´s time we get off this roof," she stated, though with little result. "Right now!"

The two men finally snapped to attention and did as they were told, following Toshiko down the hidden hatch door beneath them.


	3. That's a whole other story

**A/N: Chapter 3. Let me know what you think about the whole story... It´s just my attempt at a little background, I guess. Oh, and I´m not sure how the psychoanalysis thing in the end worked out, maybe it´s overly dramatic. Enjoy, and please review!**

**Disclaimer(that I´ve apparently forgotten in every other chapter so far... anyway...): Neither Torchwood, nor its characters belong to me.**

Later that evening, when all the technicalities had been taken care of, Ianto stood outside Jack's office, two cups of coffee in hand. He knocked on the door, but waited for no reply.

"Coffee, sir?" he said in a chilly tone, as he gently put one of the mugs down next to the immortal's laptop.

"Thank you, Ianto," Jack's incredibly blue eyes shot up to scrutinize him for a second. "You´re mad at me," he stated. Usually he would not be that blunt, but due to his recent realisation he felt like they needed to be honest with each other. Work out their problems. Be happy. Ianto deserved to be happy. And Jack really hoped he could be the one to make the gorgeous Welshman in front of him happy for as long as he lived.

Ianto sat down opposite Jack and sighed. "No," he said expressionlessly and fixed his gaze to a point somewhere above Jack's head. They sat that way, not saying anything for a long time, until Jack broke the silence and began where he knew the cause of Ianto's problem and discomfort with him lay.

"One day, three weeks ago for you, I was somehow picked up by the Rift. I don´t know how, or why it happened, but I ended up in the year 1975, and I ran into an old girlfriend. Sheela. I had left her very abruptly in the early seventies', and she – I think – really needed some closure."

"Why did you leave her?" Ianto looked into Jack's eyes for the first time since he´d come back. "The first time – I mean."

Jack sighed. This was going to be harder than he thought. He was going to have to tell the whole story. "That´s a whole other story," he said to buy some time.

"Tell me," Ianto said softly.

"I..." Jack hesitated, but got an encouraging look from Ianto. "Me and her were just getting serious. It was just around that time in the relationship that I usually leave. With her though... I just didn´t want to. Until I came across that spaceship. A tourist spaceship that had crashed. One of the only recognisable bodies I actually did recognise. It was somebody I knew a long time ago. How he ended up in 20th century Earth I have no idea. It was just that he died there, surrounded by people he more than likely didn´t know, and once upon a time I had promised him that I would always protect him." Jack sighed and shook his head. "I didn´t know what to do with it all. The ship, the corpses... So I burnt it. I burnt it all. And it just felt like I erased them all. There must have been at least two hundred people – alien mostly, but some like Allen, humans lost in time. Like me. And I just felt so powerless. When I think back at it I wonder why it didn´t motivate me to stay with Sheela – instead of the opposite. I did what I always do. I ran away."

"But, Jack," Ianto began, "You don´t run away anymore."

"Don´t I? I left you for three months with the Doctor. And three weeks now. What´s to say I won´t be out the door tomorrow? Like every other time."

"But you came back. You keep coming back to us. You have to believe, like I do, that you won´t leave... That you won´t leave me. That this is different. That you´ve grown." Ianto made his way around the desk, perching on the end of it. He gave Jack the chance to respond, but to no avail. "I... I really care about you," he reached out for the older man's hand, stroking it with his thumb. He wasn´t entirely sure of what he was saying, but he hoped beyond hope, that Jack would stay with them.

"I´m sorry that you worried about me," Jack looked deep into the eyes of his Welsh lover. "I want to say that I won´t do it again..."

"But you probably will," Ianto finished. "And that´s ok. As long as you come back in the end."

Jack tugged at Ianto's shirt, causing him to lean in. Ianto flinched slightly.

"What´s the matter?" Jack said, immediately worrying.

"It´s nothing. It´s the bite... from the hoix. It´ll be fine," he insisted and smiled, obviously trying to brush it off.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Ianto said, fire lighting in his ice blue eyes. Instead of leaning in, he pulled Jack to up to his level and they kissed deeply. Jack focused all the desire he felt into energy, that he passed over to his partner, just like he had done that awful first time during the day when Lisa was discovered.

The kiss also reminded them both of the one they had shared just before Tommy had left only a few months previous. They both also thought about how far their relationship had evolved since then. Three special words were on both of their tongues when the kiss finally ended, but neither of them had the courage to speak up.

For Jack, saying those words would make it all real. Would make Ianto just like Estelle or Sheela, or the numerous other lovers he had had during his immortal life. The special ones. The names that always went through his mind first thing in the morning, the people whose presence he missed every day, the ones he had left – or left him – and more often than not, just a reminder of how he had failed in the past. He did not want to fail Ianto. But he also knew, that he probably would.

For Ianto, saying those words would be putting himself out there. Loving Jack would make him vulnerable. And if he left again – if he didn´t come back – Ianto would fall apart. He had so much to lose. And even though he knew Jack could never die, he remembered all too well how much he had lost when Lisa had died. He never wanted to go through that ever again. His and Jack's flirtatious banter and non-committal relationship worked so well. In the back of his mind, though, he knew the truth. Their relationship wasn´t as non-committal as it had once been, and no matter if he admitted how he felt openly, it would still destroy him if Jack left never to return.

Both men were so afraid of what they could lose – so afraid they never got to thinking about how much they could gain.


	4. Anyone for coffee?

**A/N: Last chapter, everyone! I must say I´m positively surprised by the ammount of favourites and alerts this story has got. Might sway me into writing another multi-chap... I have a couple of one-shots lined up though. Owen is from London...Right? Well, don´t hold me to that. I actually wrote this on Valentine's day(I think) but I didn´t want to upload the whole thing in one go, so even though it´s a few days after, enjoy. Love is in the air - Even if it´s not acknowledged. Please review!**

**Disclaimer: Neither Torchwood, nor its characters belong to me.**

A few days later things were back to normal. Jack was more or less forgiven and they were back to work. Ianto was watching Owen play counter strike on his computer, since he for once had no body to dissect. Why the Londoner wanted more battles in his life than he already had, Ianto could never understand.

After a few minutes, Ianto turned to Tosh, who was working on some brilliant program at her station. She was – as always – deeply concentrated on her work.

He walked over to Gwen's empty station, following the movement of the SUV on her computer screen. She and Jack were on a mission to save the children of a Cardiff elementary school from an alien artifact that supposedly appeared there recently.

With a sigh, Ianto called out to the remaining workforce. "Anyone for coffee?"

For an answer he got two synchronized, although equally distracted yeses. As he set about making another batch of coffee, he looked around the Hub, smiling as he was reminded of the morning.

He had come in a little later than usual, excursions of the night before almost causing him to oversleep, and Tosh and Gwen had already been positioned at their stations, surrounded by countless bouquets of flowers. Different colour roses.

"What is this supposed to be?" he had asked more or less in shock the second he´d entered the area.

"Don´t you know what day it is?" Tosh had asked him in an innocent tone.

"It´s Valentine's day!" Gwen had squealed, taking a white rose from a bouquet close to her desk and sniffing it happily.

"They´re all from Jack," Toshiko had supplied helpfully after giving her flower-sniffing colleague an awkward look. "He got both me and Gwen a bouquet each," she had gestured to the two bouquets with white roses, interspersed with purple ones. "And a few for good measure," she´d smiled, noting his overwhelmed look caused by her liberal interpretation of 'a few'. There had been(and still was) at least a dozen other buckets filled with flowers.

As Ianto served his coworkers their coffee, he smiled slightly to himself. It had turned out Jack had also gotten the girls a card each. On Gwen's he´d written:

_Happy Valentine's day, Gwen. Just in case Rhys forgets._

_-Jack_

On Tosh's, it said the following:

_Happy Valentine's, Tosh, I hope you find someone to share it with._

_PS. What would you say if I told you there was a Rift alert last night – and it held what seems to be the last part to that device you´ve been working on...?_

_-Jack_

Upon reading this note, Tosh had murmured, "I´d say I already know... I don´t miss things like that." Unbeknown to the others, of course.

Owen was very happy he had not gotten any flowers. He had gotten a card, however, plain black, and its scribbled down contents hadn´t left him as uncomfortable as he thought they would have. Quite the opposite, actually. But, of course, that was not something he would ever admit.

Ianto told Tosh and Owen that he was going up to the Tourist office for a while, where he sat and enjoyed his coffee in silence. While Jack's flowers for the girls had been pretty, and pretty generous, Ianto couldn´t stop thinking about his own gift. He had found it on the coffee machine along with a single red rose when he had managed to collect himself enough to go in and brew the first cups of coffee for the day. It was a simple card, nothing extravagant, but its contents had sent shivers down its recipient's spine. Good shivers.

_Happy Valentine's day, Ianto. Why do I get the impression you have forgotten about this important holiday?_

_I know there are things I should tell you – but know that I care for you, so much more than I can say right now._

_Consider all the rest of the flowers yours._

_You´ll never have to be alone, Ianto. I will be with you as long as you live._

_-Jack_


End file.
